Federal appeals court puts early voting back in hands of local boards of election

Plain Dealer file photoIn-person early voting could be restored the weekend before the Nov. 6 election under today's appeals court decision.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A federal appellate court's ruling Friday threw into question whether Ohioans will get to vote in person on the final weekend before Election Day.

The ruling puts whether to allow early voting on Nov. 3, 4 and 5 into the hands of each of Ohio's 88 county boards of elections. If a board deadlocks on the issue, Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted would be the tie-breaking vote.

The availability of in-person early voting the weekend before the Nov. 6 election is a crucial issue for Democrats, who four years ago marshaled thousands of voters to the polls in that timeframe to help President Obama to victory.

GOP lawmakers, however, recently passed laws that ended in-person early voting the Friday before the election except for military voters. The Obama for America campaign sued to challenge the law in July. The campaign won at the district court level, and many interpreted the decision as an order to provide early voting on the final weekend.

But the appellate judges, in affirming the ruling on Friday, reinterpreted it, finding that it puts the decision into the hands of boards of elections.

Husted said he would announce his response to the court ruling on Monday. He would not answer questions about how he would break tie votes on early voting hours the weekend before the election.

Husted sided with fellow Republican members of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections this summer to restrict early voting on weekends in October.

"I'm really just not saying anything else other than what you have," Husted said.

While Husted continued to review the appellate court ruling, the Obama campaign saw it as a victory Fridayand said all Ohioans will be able to vote early the weekend before the election.

"As a result of this decision, every voter, including military, veterans, and overseas voters alongside all Ohioans, will have the same opportunity to vote early through the weekend and Monday before the election," campaign lawyer Bob Bauer said in a statement.

But other reactions made it clear there is still much to be decided.

"With the last three days of early voting again an option, it is now the duty of local boards of elections to side with voters and promote access to the ballot box," said Sen. Nina Turner, a Cleveland Democrat.

ProgressOhio, a left-leaning think tank, urged Husted to end the confusion and order boards of elections to allow in-person voting the final weekend before the election.

"Since Secretary Husted's mantra has always been consistency, it is our belief that the secretary should now order all boards to open their polls during the final weekend of voting," ProgressOhio Executive Director Brian Rothenberg said.The Obama campaign's lawsuit said the Ohio law that cut off in-person early voting was unconstitutional because only military and overseas voters were allowed to vote in-person those final three days.

In 2008, an estimated 100,000 Ohioans -- many of them from demographic groups that tend to vote Democrat -- cast ballots in-person the weekend before the election.

Husted and Attorney General Mike DeWine, both Republicans and defendants in the lawsuit, argued the extra days of in-person voting for all voters created a burden for local election officials. They also said military voters need the extra three days of early voting in case they are suddenly deployed or face other unique challenges.

A U.S. District Court judge sided with the Obama campaign in August and granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the state from enforcing the early voting restriction. The state appealed.

On Friday, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision.

"The state argues that military voters need extra early voting time because they could be suddenly deployed. But any voter could be suddenly called away and prevented from voting on Election Day," the court wrote. "There is no reason to provide these voters with fewer opportunities to vote than military voters, particularly when there is no evidence that local boards of elections will be unable to cope with more early voters."

While the availability of in-person voting the final weekend remained in limbo this week, Democrats across Ohio held early voting rallies.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.